The Battle Creek Bombers surrendered a 2-0 lead to the Kokomo Jackrabbits on Tuesday night, as Kokomo won 9-3.
Battle Creek scored two of their runs in the first inning off of Kokomo starter Aaron Husson. Caleb Balgaard was hit by a pitch, and John Malcom hit an RBI triple halfway up the wall in right-center field to bring him home. Malcom then scored on Trace Peterson’s first RBI as a member of the Bombers, as Peterson hit a sacrifice fly to right field.
From then, though, the tide turned completely. Five consecutive batters reached in the bottom of the second inning for the Jackrabbits against Bombers starter Ty Shoaff. A sacrifice fly from Hagan Severance with the game tied gave Kokomo a lead that they would not relinquish. The Jackrabbits added three more runs in the fourth inning, including a wild pitch from Shoaff got away from Battle Creek catcher Gabe Sotres to score two. A second wild pitch added another run for Jackrabbits, who at that point led 6-2.
Trevor Smisek came into the game in relief of Shoaff for the sixth inning and gave up an additional three runs. Smisek threw one inning, surrendering all three runs without giving up a hit. A hit-by-pitch, coupled with five walks, opened up the Kokomo lead to 9-2. In the seventh inning, Husson would give way to Kenny Johnson, who was credited with the save for throwing three innings for Kokomo.
Johnson allowed only one run, which came in the top of the ninth inning. The second triple of the game for Battle Creek, this time off the bat of Kolby Johnson, set up an opportunity for Michael Lee. Lee would deliver a sacrifice fly to right field to bring the Bombers closer, but Kenny Johnson would close the door.
Kokomo has now won six of their seven matchups this season against Battle Creek, but the Bombers will get another chance on Wednesday. First pitch is slated for 7:05 eastern time at Kokomo Municipal Stadium.
The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Currently in its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
